In that sense, why a scoreless lose is a bad thing. They didn't play well, but they tried. Good for them. The only way is up now. So why are people bashing the winning team, or the situation. They gave the losing team a shot, literally. The losing team missed it. Heck they all might call it practice. Practicing plays for the winning team, and shots by the losing team.
Honestly, it looks as though many of you are reading the headline for this article and then writing your own details to go along in lieu of actually clicking the link provided. Many of the comments just don't fit with any of the claims made in the article, nor the specifics of the incident, and are baseless exaggerations pounded into pre-conceived notions of political correctness gone awry. The girls on Dallas Academy didn't whine at all about the loss. If you had taken a look at the article, it explains that they haven't won a game in 4 years. I doubt, at this point, that they have any expectations at all of winning a game. Contrary to your assertion about their collective temperament, this probably makes them the best possible losers as they're playing merely to play. Again, the girls on Dallas Academy aren't whining. The administration at Covenant is embarrassed at the way their coaches handled the game. This isn't on the Covenant players at all, but rather the coaches for not setting an example on how the game should be played. That isn't based upon some politically correct sensibility either; try to employ some of those tactics in a blowout in the NBA and you'll get a hard elbow to the throat on the next rebound. As I said earlier, this isn't acceptable at any level of play. Actually, if you read the article, there is nothing like what you wrote contained inside. There is a mention of the Dallas coach calling this game a "layup drill", but none of the other details you added were there. (The "layup drill" references the Covenant's side and their continual push for fast-break points.) The only mention of Covenant's defense was that they continued to employ a full court press even after the game was well in hand. That would imply that they were playing tight defense throughout and not, as you wrote, standing around for Dallas to attempt a lay up. Anyhow, to echo ErechOveraker, where has basic sportsmanship gone?
I grew up in central Texas, where high school football can be easily confused with any religion one may practice, so I have no real capacity in me to feel sorry for these girls that lost by so much. I've been a bench warmer, I've been that third string guy that gets to play when we're destroying the compeition, and I've also been that third string guy that gets to play when we're getting our own asses handed to us. You can only take the game so seriously. I'm sure everyone here has heard 'Relax, it's just a game' at some point in our life. Unless of course you're vying for a spot on a collegiate squad or trying to impress a professional scout that's watching. If that's the case, then by all means, get upset and throw chairs into the stands. :> Otherwise, suck it up and move on. - Alty
I don't think it's a double standard at all. It's two standards for two things--one professional, one that isn't even amateur, but just high-school, which is quite literally a class all its own. Basketball at that level isn't supposed to be about winning and losing, not really. It's at the primary school level, where the fundamental goal is to be be teaching--teaching a sport, yes, and teaching how to win it, to be sure. But more importantly it should be about teaching fundamental life lessons, and one of those lessons should be sportsmanship. That's not political correctness--hell, I've never been accused of that--it's just about...well, being a good sport.
Last time I checked, sportsmanship didn't mean "take it easy on the other team because they suck." Both teams should play their best the entire time. Can you honestly tell me you wouldn't feel worse, if you found out the team you played took it easy on you because they pitied you?
Main Entry: sports·man·ship Pronunciation: \-ˌship\ Function: noun Date: 1745 : conduct (as fairness, respect for one's opponent, and graciousness in winning or losing) becoming to one participating in a sport I'm not sure you read the same article as me then.
First off, Hockey and Basketball are two entirely different things. And even in Hockey they have the emrcy rule where if one team is up 10+ to nothing (or some such number) the game will be called regardless of time remaining. With hockey you can easily have two excellent teams play flawless games and have a score of 1-0. In basket ball, when scores average 40-50 points per team, having a 100-0 shutout is a rare occurance. As for your other questions, the losing team tried the entire time, they just weren't that good. Compared to the other team, who was apparently pretty decent and put in a full effort the entire game despite their assured victory. And again, the losing team is not complaining, it was the winning team that willingly apologized for their actions. If that was a boys team the game would have been called long before reaching that point due to a very common mercy rule. This is entirely wrong in every way. The winning team didn't let them take shots, they would actively steal the ball and go on to make their own lay-ups. It got so common that is seemed like the winning team was running layup drills, not the losing team. Because the winning team didn't hold back, which can't be held against the players imo. It was the coaches who should have stopped it. Those are the people that seem to have invoked the most ire in this situation. Did you even read the article? Incidentally, the losing team barely had a second string line-up, never mind having third string benchwarmers. It was a school of 20 with a team of 8 players. The fact that those 8 would willingly stay in the game the entire time, and even manage to get better in the last quater, is grounds enough for praise imo. It's a good thing you don't feel pity because no one in this situation was looking for it.
if i knew my basketball better i'd probably know most of that, i misinterpreted what was going on. oh well.
Definitely have to agree this was bad sportsmanship. Is there not a mercy rule in basketball? One would think so. I didn't read the article, so unless the winning team had their back-ups in there's no excuse to run up the score like that. Many starters have been hurt while running up the score on another team, as I'm sure many college football fans would agree Tyrone Prothro
as a basketball fan...ive never seen this much attention towards the girls game :| guys, seriously. womens basketball i dont think the losing team players are at the risk of slitting their own risk. probably went shopping the next day for shoes and they were all good
The /entire nature/ of the article was to make the reader feel sorry for these girls. This is the pity of which I speak. And who are you? Didn't realize that these discussions came with hosts/moderators now. And yes, the mercy rule should have been enforced after the first half, if not prior to that (if they were up by thirty at any point). I play with my coworkers in pick up leagues on base, and we get the mercy rule enacted all the time - especially for those old-as-balls, retired-military, gov. employees. But they take in stride, those good 'ole battle-hardened vets. I would have to disagree with Slugslinger, though. During the year in which Texas won the BCS title game, they played Baylor, another Big 12 team. The score was something atrociously ridiculous, like 70-0. And I'm pretty sure Vince Young was in the game for at least 75% of it.... ...well... maybe I shouldn't disagree, now that I ponder this. College football has a very weird way of doing things, now that I think about Oklahoma this year. They ran up the score in 5 or 6 consecutive games to 60+ in order to improve their BCS rankings, overtake Texas in the polls, and cement their spot in the BCS title game (at which point they promptly got their asses handed to them by Florida. Which was beautiful). Soooo... bringing college football into score-steroids and sportsmanship comparisons is probably not the best idea. Heh. - Alty
I used the term shutout because the meanings are the which is defined as "a competition or game in which the losing side fails to score." Its probability of occurring does not effect what it is. Beside you know what happened to Cal State Univ-Northridge football team? Well they are disbanded, not because they don't win. They don't win enough. If the team keeps doing this bad, why have a team? They should have a 21 based tournment at their own school at the most. It's not fair for any team to take it easy on the other team when they suck. Sports is practice. Unless some scout is there are not like said before. The refs should have called it over if and only if they equally do it the same for boys. If the refs failed to do so then it should be I believe that a sport should be played down to the last second. Mercy or not because "sports build character for life." And much like real life, you can't call it quits al the time. The losing team have shown endurance and to me they won for only that. They get experience (And schooled *snicker*) of how to be better. The winning team gets one win point. Everyone have an opinion but this is mine. I agree that the refs should have called it (only if they should), butI don't see any more significance in this story other than total domination.
The lesson here? If you're beating someone, slow down so they can catch up. Let them score points so they won't lose their self-esteem. Nobody likes an ass-kicker. Feh. If you get your ass handed to you that badly, chances are you should've never been on the court to begin with. And by the way, a victory without honor is STILL A DAMN VICTORY. And I say to the victor goes the spoils.
Sorry I couldn't listen to this anymore and not comment. High School is was about one thing when we grew up it was about utterly crushing your opponents whether they be on the court/field or the hallway. And to say that that basketball team should hand over a winning they rightfully earned through hammering the enemy is wrong wrong wrong.
I think it shows more respect to keep up the A game. I know that I wouldn't like someone to be taking it easy on me because they where winning, when the other team start dicking around and going easy all they're doing is showing they don't take you seriously. Oh, before anyone questions it, I was a constant loser in school. Our rugby team just crashed and burned every single time but it was never a big deal because we fought as hard as we could.
Yeah. I hate interschool sporting stuff, even as a teacher. At our school, they try and require every kid joins an interschool team (doesn't turn out that way, we get maybe 50% participation). Because theres so many teams, teachers who aren't real coachers/PE teachers get lumped into coaching the teams. Which is how I, a maths science teacher, got 14-15 year old girls basketball. I told the girls on the team straight up that the only practice and training we'd do is Weednesday afternoons (when sport happens) that we have byes. I am way to busy doing other things during lunchbreaks (like eating, marking, chatting in the staffroom etc) to do other training. We had 3 girls on the team who refused outright to play, they just joined the team because they liked me. So they spent each game 'sick' and sat huddled in their cirlce chatting. The other 6-7 odd girls played, but weren't good. We lost most games with margins of about 20-40 points. But two games the scores were 90 point gaps. It was kind of funny to watch, especially after the girls realised they were gunna get slaughtered about midway and just started playing silly buggers on the court. EDIT: I'll also add, I don't understand the rules of basketball or how to play it (beyond put ball in net). Nothing about whats a foul etc... Nor do I know anything about training drills for it. So training was 'play a game against yourself then line up and take shots'. And I couldn't ref any of the games (teachers/coaches are expectesd to be refs/umpires). Really pissed of other schools.
Yeah, but then the Fuhrer and Himmler committed suicide and the allies built a wall through your neighborhood - you can let go of your anger now! Sheesh.
